The Cunning Coupe updated 03/09/10 (New updates on the bottom) (click on any photo to enlarge)

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23/02/10 These are the first photos of the body from Paul Bland, it is as straight out of the mold and as not had the rear arches filled in, Paul has now done this and will be sending photos shortly.

What I like it, is that if you compare the chop with the original car, they are about the same, so that is a very good start. It will look very different once all the work has been done.

25/02/10 Just a quick shot of the body with the arch's done and a quick paint shop job to see what it will look like.

13/03/10 As I said before, the manifold which came in the engine is for the wrong heads, so I ordered and received a Holley Street Dominator from the states, this is made for the 2v heads so will be better, it has been revamped and sprayed silver.

My mate Kevin took the old manifold to work and gave it a good cleaning and blasting so I could sell it, it came out so good, he has now got the Holley one to do.

Last weekend I took the box (Painted below) and converter to Steve's shed, I also picked up John Mondays tube bender from Edd's in Bristol  as we have been let down with the top tube and Steve will be doing it himself.

I have also had a rethink about the bell housing, the Ultrabell are about £350 and the trans shield are under £100. I know I have had an adaptor made, but as this did not cost that much, I am going to get my spare FMX housing cleaned by Kevin and use that until I have some extra funds. below are the old (Cleaned) and new (Not cleaned) manifolds.

Also today, Steve, with Big Graham driving, went up to Paul Bland's in North Wales to pick up my body, (He also dropped off something else, but its up to him to say what it was.) below are some photos he took when he got back from the shed. He said it looks good, but I am still a little unsure if I like the narrow back end, I might try adding a body line from the bottom to the top first, if still not happy, widen it a little, lets see what happens!

A big thanks to Steve & Graham for picking it up.

16/03/10 Even though I would like to go faster, I still prefer the easy approach so have bought myself a plug and play dizzy for the car, this is the type that you only have to fit and feed a live from the ignition to it, it also has a take off for a tacho. The coil is on top of the cap, so its put in, stick in a live, shove the plug leads in, time it up and then forget. (Well I hope its as easy as that.)

I am not worried, but its a little bigger than I thought it would be (See last Pic) but as long as its reliable, I will be happy.

Its been over two months since my last update, so just a one little. It is a little slow at the moment, but at least its forward slow.
It was my intention to not touch the engine until it was up and running, but that gone through the roof. As you know I have removed and sold the 4v manifold and got a 2v Holley Dominator one instead.

I have bought roller rockers and adjusters for which the rocker posts have to be machined to fit, the heads have been taken off and someone is looking to see if they can do it.
all the old valves and springs have been put to one side
I ordered and received a cam kit which includes all the bits to match the cam.

After looking at the old valves and pushrods, when money allows a new set will be ordered up with a complete gasket set and a sfi balancer and flex plate. the complete engine will be completely stripped down and rebuilt with new parts where needed (When I bought the engine, the bottom end had not long been done, but I will have a look anyway)
More news when it happens.

08/07/10 Good news, at the Nostalgia Nationals Steve said to me that it would be make or break for Black Pig Too, if it went or broke, it would stay in the trailer (Well camper to be exact) Not only did the car run well doing the best of 9.6 @ 140 mph, Steve & Lesley came 2nd in the Wild Bunch round. Well done both.

With both of us having things on for the next few weekends including me going on holiday, we have set the weekend of 31st July/1st Aug as the start date on the chassis, Steve will be setting up the jig in "The Shed" before that weekend so we can put the extra bends in the bottom tube and sort out the top one.

In the mean time, I have been buying and getting things done for the engine. The heads are away getting machined to take the roller rockers and I received my valves and 3/8 pushrods from the states. By mistake when I ordered the guides, I ordered the 3/8 ones and not the 5/16 ones, so it was cheaper for me to order the rods to go with them then order some new guides (About 10 quid more)

I also started to make some exhaust flanges at my mates workshop using his punch machine, but I was not happy with them so ordered a set from Paul B on the Rods N Sods forum, as you can see from the photos, I will still have to open them out a bit, but it will be easier than trying to clean up the ones I made.

 Also, when we were clearing out the sheds, I found the new master cylinder I had when I first started to build the Mini (I lost it and had to get another one) I have stripped it down and it was still full of the build grease and it works, the top is a little battered but its only the outer part and it still steals perfect.

While at the Nos Nats, Paul from B Sting was selling a ratchet Hurst shifter, its quite a nice looking thing and works well with only one hand, but its a little one the big side. Paul has let me hang onto it and see if it can be fitted or not. I still have the B&M one from my old car (From Dorset Horn) which is quite a bit smaller but needs two hands to put it into reverse.

That's it for now and there will be a update after the chassis is started "Watch this space!!"

26th July 2010 Next weekend I am going to Steve's shed and meant to be helping start the new chassis, but I got home last night to receive a load of photos from Steve & Lesley, looks like they have been busy over the weekend.

Not only has the bottom rail been bent and put in position, but the rear uprights and axle have been put in place. Steve has also sent me photos of the top rail which will have to be modified before its fits. It don't look a lot at the moment but its the first step.

Thanks Steve & Lesley

03/08/10  I went to the shed as planned on the weekend with Saturday being a very fruit full day, we got a lot more done than we thought we would.
I decided to use the altered top tube, to have a flatter top tube with better leg protection, so we set it up upside down in the jig, we worked out what bends we needed to make it fit and Steve plotted it on the plan on the wall. I looked OK but there was something wrong about it with the last of the two bends being just behind the engine plate it looked too messy, So it was turned over, worked it out by putting the new bend behind the old one, again it was plotted on the plan, this time it looked much better, so the tube was bent and setup ready for tack welding.

Then the front uprights and axle bar were tacked into place. Then it was around behind the axle and cut and fit the seat & kidney bars. With these cut and positioned, these were tacked in place.

Sunday turned out a little different. First I had a phone call at 7.30 to say my mum had been rushed into hospital down in Eastbourne, they said the would keep in touch.

I got up a while later and Lesley treated us to one of her famous breakfasts. Feeling a little full we headed towards the shed.

The plan was to fit the gearbox, anti rotational and floor members, set up and fit the seat bars and cut the cross braces for the side bars (These will be welded in after the main bars have been fully welded)

After the seat bar were fitted, I put a bit of alloy and sat in it again, it felt OK when we mocked it up, but I felt I should be sitting a bit more forward, so we unclamped the chassis in the jig and moved the whole lot forward just over 2 inch's. When I sat in it again it felt a lot better, so that's where it going to stay.

All was going to plan when I got a phone call, they said (My son David was already down there on a visit with the kids) I should get down to Eastbourne, before I had a chance to phone Linda, my daughter Lesley phoned to say she was on her way to pick her up already and would meet me down there.

3 hours later I was sitting next to my mum, while she was very unwell, they said she had improved since being admitted.

When we went to visit yesterday, she was sitting in a chair and had improved no end. Linda & Lesley were going to go down on Wednesday for a long weekend, so I have had to come home and they are staying down there for a while.

If all goes well, I am going back to Steve & Lesley's shed next Saturday. The plan is to set up the motor plate and work out the engine angle. As I want it as short as I can, the gearbox will be bolted straight to the back axle with no propshaft, it has a sliding joint and will be set at about 2 inch's out (The same position it was when fitted to The Cunning Plan) so I can remove the box if needed without unbolting the axle.

05/08/10 Mark, (The same person who made the wheel spacers) dropped of the 4 link clevises that I designed and he made for me, these will be welded to the front of the bars (I know there's 8, but another story) and I will be using rose joints at the back so they can be adjusted.

Also the last lot of stuff I have ordered from the States dropped into the garage this morning, these are a sfi flexyplate & damper and a set of head studs. All the rest of the parts will be ordered from this side of the pond. I need a few odds and ends including a complete gasket set, plug leads, flexyplate and trans shields. When I get the rest of the parts and the heads back from machining, the engine will be put back together

More after the weekend

09/07/10. Its been a weird week since I came back from Eastbourne, but more on that later. Steve was going to take the transporter for a MOT test first thing Sat morning, so I did not get to the shed until gone 11.30 to find that he had not been able to take it. One of the front wheel cylinders had seized and they could not one until after the weekend.

When I got there, Steve had just finished fully welded the chassis.

The plan for the weekend was to make a motor plate, get the gearbox in and set that up. Make the seat and also if we had time, start on the cage (I had my helmet and neck brace just in case.)

I had already taken a engine/gearbox shim to the shed when I took the gearbox up there, so Steve measured it up and transferred it to a piece of 3 mm plate. While he was doing that, I was looking at the rear axle and decided that the calipers would be better on the front to keep the backend free from pipes. I took the floating hubs off and turned the brackets around, swapped the calipers side to side and refitted them. Looks a lot better now but we need a couple of pipe fittings to help route the pipes under the axle mounts.

Steve had in the meantime had finished marking out the motor plate and started plasma cutting out the center and starter motor holes, then drilled the fixing holes, bolted it up to the bell housing and checked it in the chassis.

 

When happy he started making the mountings to fix it to the chassis.

Lesley and I started to make the seat back; first we used cardboard and when we were happy, transferred it to the alloy. Then Lesley cut it out with the plasma cutter; we marked out where the bends will be and bent them around a gas bottle. It was cut slightly oversize so we could trim it back where needed.

It was then time to start making up the gearbox/floor mounts. Steve made the mounts (Not finished in the photos.) while I cut the bars.

It was getting late so I had to make a move home, they have been shutting the M4 at Newport on the weekends at 8pm and it would add over half a hour onto the trip. Steve will be finishing off the gearbox mount and weld in the floor bars, he is also going to make the rear axle plates and mount the axle.

If you have read last week’s entry, you know my mother has been unwell, the good news is that she should be home the before the end of the week. This has put a bit of a strain on me and family, so I am taking a little time out from the car, I have already taken all the engine parts from down the garage I work at and put them into my son’s garage.

With this and holidays, it’s going to be the end of October before I am able to go back to the shed and help finish the chassis. When I get the rest of the engine parts and when I feel like it, I will be putting that back together.

I would like to thank Steve & Lesley for all the work on the car, but also looking after me while down in deepest Wiltshire. Thank you both.

This is not the end, but it might be a while before I update again.

16/08/10 It looks like while I was away at the Bulldog Bash working, Steve and Lesley have been working on the car, not only has he finished the gearbox mount,

 Made the rear axle anti rotational bar (And don't it half look good) This is to stop the axle rotating if the diff seizes. (With me sitting behind it, I hope it works)

As you can see, They have also made the axle mounts.

Even the seat base was made.

Thanks both, you have cheered me up no end.

On another front, the heads have arrived back from machining, they still have to be drilled and tapped, but Ian is going to do it down the garage. Then when I get a gasket set, I can start rebuilding the heads. 

In the cam instructions, I only use the outer springs to run the cam in, then put the full set in. Now the heads have been modified to take adjustable rockers, I can use a Chevy type spring compressor and wont have to take the heads back off.

More news when it happens. (I will also be starting Page 3)

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